Symptoms of a brain tumor can be general or specific. A general symptom is caused by the pressure of the tumor on the brain or spinal cord. Specific symptoms are caused when a specific part of the brain is not working well because of the tumor. For many people with a brain tumor, they were diagnosed when they went to the doctor after experiencing a problem, such as a headache or other changes.

General symptoms include:

• Headaches, which may be severe and worsen with activity or in the early morning
• Seizures. Motor seizures, also called convulsions, are sudden involuntary movements of a person’s muscles. People may experience different types of seizures, including myclonic and tonic-clonic (grand mal). Certain drugs can help prevent or control them. The differences between these types of seizures are listed below:
  • Myclonic
    • Single or multiple muscle twitches, jerks, spasms
  • Tonic-Clonic (Grand Mal)
    • Loss of consciousness and body tone, followed by twitching and relaxing muscles that are called contractions
    • Loss of control of body functions
    • May be a short 30-second period of no breathing and a person may turn a shade of blue
    • After this type of seizure a person may be sleepy and experience a headache, confusion, weakness, numbness, and sore muscles.
  • Sensory
    • Change in sensation, vision, smell, and/or hearing without losing consciousness
  • Complex partial
    • May cause a loss of awareness or a partial or total loss of consciousness
    • May be associated with repetitive, unintentional movements, such as twitching
• Personality or memory changes
• Nausea or vomiting
• Fatigue
• Drowsiness
• Sleep problems
• Memory problems
• Changes in ability to walk or perform daily activities

Symptoms that may be specific to the location of the tumor include:

• Pressure or headache near the tumor
• Loss of balance and difficulty with fine motor skills is linked with a tumor in the cerebellum.
• Changes in judgment, including loss of initiative, sluggishness, and muscle weakness or paralysis is associated with a tumor in the frontal lobe of the cerebrum.
• Partial or complete loss of vision is caused by a tumor in the occipital lobe or temporal lobe of the cerebrum.
• Changes in speech, hearing, memory, or emotional state, such as aggressiveness and problems understanding or retrieving words can develop from a tumor in the frontal and temporal lobe of the cerebrum.
• Altered perception of touch or pressure, arm or leg weakness on 1 side of the body, or confusion with left and right sides of the body are linked to a tumor in the frontal or parietal lobe of the cerebrum.
• Inability to look upward can be caused by a pineal gland tumor.
• Lactation, which is the secretion of breast milk and altered menstrual periods in women, and growth in hands and feet in adults are associated with a pituitary tumor.
• Difficulty swallowing, facial weakness or numbness, or double vision is a symptom of a tumor in the brain stem.
• Vision changes, including loss of part of the vision or double vision can be from a tumor in the temporal lobe, occipital lobe, or brain stem.

If you are concerned about any changes you experience, please talk with your doctor. Your doctor will ask how long and how often you’ve been experiencing the symptom(s), in addition to other questions. This is to help find out the cause of the problem, called a diagnosis.

If a brain tumor is diagnosed, relieving symptoms remains an important part of your care and treatment. This may also be called symptom management, palliative care, or supportive care. Be sure to talk with your health care team about symptoms you experience, including any new symptoms or a change in symptoms.

Treatment:

In brain tumor care, different types of doctors often work together to create a patient’s overall treatment plan that combines different types of treatment. This is called a multidisciplinary team. Cancer care teams also include a variety of other health care professionals, including physician assistants, oncology nurses, social workers, pharmacists, counselors, dietitians, and others.

Descriptions of the most common treatment options for a brain tumor are listed below, including treatments that help manage symptoms. Treatment options and recommendations depend on several factors:

• The size, type, and grade of the tumor
• Whether the tumor is putting pressure on vital parts of the brain
• If the tumor has spread to other parts of the CNS or body
• Possible side effects
• The patient’s preferences and overall health.

Some types of brain tumors grow rapidly, other tumors grow slowly. Considering all these factors, your doctor will talk with you about how soon treatment should start after diagnosis.

Treatment options include those described below, such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Your care plan may also include treatment for symptoms and side effects, an important part of your medical care.

For a low-grade brain tumor, surgery may be the only treatment needed especially if all of the tumor can be removed. If there is visible tumor remaining after surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy may be used. For higher-grade tumors, treatment usually begins with surgery, followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

Successfully treating brain tumors can be challenging. The body’s blood-brain barrier normally protects the brain and spinal cord from harmful chemicals in the bloodstream. However, this barrier also keeps out many types of chemotherapy. Surgery can be difficult if the tumor is near a delicate part of the brain or spinal cord. Even when the surgeon can completely remove the original tumor, there may be parts of the tumor remaining that are too small to be seen or removed during surgery. And, radiation therapy can damage healthy tissue.

However, research in the past 20 years has helped to significantly lengthen the lives of people with brain tumors. More refined surgeries, a better understanding of the types of tumors that respond to chemotherapy, and more targeted delivery of radiation therapy have lengthened lives and improved the quality of life for many people diagnosed with a brain tumor.